Sunday, July 22, 2012

DR Day 1


Since I wasn’t able to blog while in the Dominican Republic, I wrote in my journal, and I’m going to take this next week to reflect daily on each day of my trip. I’m hoping it will help me remember everything I learned while out of the country and make it stick. Plus, you will all get to see what was going on inside my heart as well.

Day 1
Yesterday was my first day to fly on an airplane, and believe it or not, I was completely without any fears. Even days before leaving several people asked me if I was scared, and I really wasn’t at all. I know the Lord had given me a peace that passed all understanding. We arrived in the DR very late last night so I barely got any sleep.

We got up this morning and went to church in a village called Honduras-not the country, just the village. The older brother of two wonderful people that were on the trip, Steven Melin and Kristin Melin Link, had started a church there several years before. The sermon was done in Spanish and translated in English, so it was kind of hard to follow, but the passion for Christ in the room was undeniable.  The people lived in small huts, didn’t have much clean water, and were probably wearing the same clothes they had worn the day before, and yet they were so joyful. They praised God with all they had-literally.  I also was asked to sing and help lead worship throughout the week, so that was a neat surprise. We then went to a baseball game where the team from Honduras was playing. I met a little boy who was so proud to be learning English, so I helped him study. He was being a great little student.  As we were leaving we waved bye to everyone we passed in our big bus, and one man gave me a thumbs up, so that was exciting. GV3!

I found out that I would be working with the medical team for the next two days, and I started to feel a sense of worry for my own health. I had no idea what kinds of diseases these people had, but all I knew was that they lived extremely dirty lifestyles. Thankfully, a girl named Lori, who became one of my really good friends on the trip, showed me that on our prayer calendar for the day we were to read Psalm 91 and this is what it says:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter(A) of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow(
B) of the Almighty.[a]
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge(
C) and my fortress,(D)
    my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare(
E)
    and from the deadly pestilence.(
F)
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;(
G)
    his faithfulness will be your shield(
H) and rampart.
You will not fear(I) the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.(J)
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm(
K) will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels(
L) concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;(
M)
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.(
N)
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.(
O)
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.(
P)
16 With long life(
Q) I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.(
R)

Praise God.

The questions for today are:
Who are you? And what are you here for?
I look forward to discovering my answer to these now, as well as asking myself these every single day of my life. 

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